Clinical Relevance and Therapeutic Findings of Chronic Cough Related to Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease.

[en] [en] OBJECTIVE: To investigate clinical significance of chronic cough in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) and evaluate the potential of cough as a predictor for clinical findings and treatment outcomes. METHODS: Data of patients with a positive diagnosis of LPRD at the 24-hour hypopharyngeal-esophageal multi-channel intraluminal impedance-pH monitoring (HEMII-pH) prospectively followed at the European Reflux Clinic and Elsan Hospital from January 2017 to August 2024 were retrieved. Four study groups were established based on chronic cough severity. Between-group analysis included HEMII-pH parameters (number and pH of pharyngeal reflux events), pretreatment and post treatment reflux symptom scores (RSS), reflux sign assessment (RSA), and gastrointestinal endoscopy findings. RESULTS: The study included 523 patients [303 females (57.9%) and 220 males (42.1%)]. Of the 523 patients with LPRD, 326 (62.3%) had mild-to-severe chronic cough. The mean ages of patients ranged from 50.3 to 52.7 years. The cough severity score was associated with the severity of otolaryngological, digestive, and non-cough respiratory symptoms, with the mildest presentations in patients without chronic cough. The magnitude of pretreatment to post treatment changes in RSS and RSA decreased as cough severity increased. Patients with chronic cough demonstrated higher post therapeutic otolaryngological and non-cough respiratory symptom scores, while there were no significant differences across groups for digestive symptoms. The therapeutic response rate was 75.1%, without demonstrating significant differences between patients with chronic cough (75.9%) and those without (73.8%). The cough severity score was a predictor of the post treatment RSS (rs = 0.222; P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Chronic cough is a predominant symptom in LPRD with a prevalence of 62.3%. At baseline presentation, chronic cough severity is suggestive of a significant prognostic indicator of LPRD RSS severity.

Disciplines :

Otolaryngology

Author, co-author :

Lechien, Jérome ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education > Service de Métrologie et Sciences du langage ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Faculté de Médecine, Pharmacie et Sciences Biomédicales > Service de Chirurgie ; Université de Mons - UMONS > Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie > Service de Chirurgie

Language :

English

Title :

Clinical Relevance and Therapeutic Findings of Chronic Cough Related to Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease.

Publication date :

29 March 2025

Journal title :

Journal of Voice

ISSN :

0892-1997

eISSN :

1873-4588

Publisher :

Elsevier BV, United States

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0892199725001055?httpAccept=text/xml

Research unit :

M120 - Service de Chirurgie

Research institute :

Santé

Funders :

King Baudouin Foundation

Available on ORBi UMONS :

since 16 October 2025

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